Misunderstanding Servant Leadership / Just because you can, you shouldn't / Let’s Copy This Hiring Practice
Welcome to 📮Monday TPM Field Dispatch 007 - Shortform thoughts on tech program management + curated content for further exploration, delivered every Monday to your inbox to kickstart your week.
Howdy Readers -
I am kind stoked to introduce a new logo for the Monday TPM Dispatches. This will help these posts stand out a bit more on the main page. Engagement on these small thoughts and notes has far exceeded my expectations. Clearly, you all prefer this format better so I am going to keep sharing these notes with you. Enjoy!
1️⃣ Misunderstanding Servant Leadership
“I need a TPM because I don’t want my team to focus on tickets and meeting minutes”
On a few occasions I had the opportunity to talk to fresh graduates who find themselves in the field of Technical Project Management. A common theme I hear often “My approach is that of the servant leader. I help my team be successful.”
I am not a fan of servant leadership. Why? I will keep that for a longer post.
There is a very real consequence of servant leadership especially for those early in their TPM careers or consequence rather of misunderstanding of servant leadership.
New TPMs will find themselves relegated to note takers, meeting schedulers and message relays, wiki maintainers. This prevents any foundational learning from taking hold yet in their mind they are being servant leaders by doing what their teams need them to do. They serve the team.
Without them realizing, they are unknowingly continuing the perception that TPMs are there to help run standup, harp about Jira tickets, and take meeting minutes.
You follow and believe in servant leadership, that is your prerogative. However, for those early in the TPM career, I want you to be aware that there is a huge difference between being helpful to your team versus picking up their slack because they don’t want to write jira tickets.
Spot and learn the difference between actually serving your team versus picking up after them.
2️⃣ Just Because You Can, You Shouldn’t
There is an adage in Data Analytics especially in the more modern privacy centric world:
Just because you can collect the data doesn’t mean you should. You need to have a reason.
We can make processes and frameworks that are all encompassing and comprehensive. They can be so detailed, so complete, I mean, we can go crazy.
BUT - Just because we can, we shouldn’t.
You as a TPM must regulate the urge to make a beautifully complex crafted process versus the simplest of systems. At the same time, you also don’t want to create a process or framework that is inept.
One example of this is in action - data dashboards.
We can build large data dashboards and charts with all manners of data groupings, burndowns, and analytics focused on the effectiveness of the product development teams. However, your need for data will change based on circumstances and what stage and status the program is in.
Leaders will always want more data, more process, more control. You can give them all that. BUT your role as a TPM is to temper the leadership’s urges and give them what they actually need. Keep it simple and timely.
3️⃣ Let’s Copy This Hiring Practice
Last week, I stated we need to change how we interview TPMs.
I always keep an eye on interesting hiring practices I wish more companies emulated.
On this episode of Let’s Copy This Hiring Practice, MongoDB adds something super unique to their job descriptions which is absolutely ❤️ - Success Measures.
Why do I love this? It sets the expectation of what you will experience in your first year which is far more useful than a canned here is what you can do in this role that you typically find on job descriptions. This helps you prepare and understand what talent and spirit you need to bring to be successful in the role as well as what the hiring manager is looking for.
👏 Well done, MongoDB Talent team. Well done!
Bonus - I also noticed MongoDB is hiring a ton of TPM positions. Check them out here.
How was this week’s newsletter?
P.S.
The Next Session of My TPM Course is Open for Enrollment
The inaugural cohort for my course - Become A Great Technical Program Manager - was a wonderful experience.
The people, the special guest speaker, and the engagement was beyond my expectation. However, the best part was the course feedback which was filled with such immensely valuable opportunities already incorporated into my next cohort which is now OPEN for enrollment.
More real world examples.
More case studies.
More discussions.
More deep dive into topics like Systems Philosophy, Influence, Shape of Power and much more.
Now 2 Days long / 3 hours each day (Cohort is scheduled for July 29-30).
Course Fee: $499.
🚨 Spots are limited, don’t miss this chance → 🚀 Click here to enroll today
If you enjoy and love reading what I write, perhaps you know someone who could also enjoy and love reading these essays and dispatches. Share this with your friends and colleagues and lets grow together. 🙏 ☺️ ❤️
You can suggest topics or questions for me to write about in the future. It could be something you are curious about or maybe something you're struggling with right now.
I did see that MongoDB job description! And I loved it! Now it is actuallya a question I ask when I apply for jobs and I get interviews.